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Monday, 7 October 2013

Swoon Quilt

And asked for a quilt, in a colour pallette that was really not my sort of thing - blues and browns, soft and muted rather than florals and spots, bright and loud.

This would normally not be an issue, only I was frantically designing and making these flower girl dresses which turned out to be more difficult than I had anticipated. Scratchy underskirts, learning to dye tulle and the fear of sewing with expensive dupioni silk really slowed me down so the quilt was something of an IOU (the dresses turned out beautifully though!).

After the frantic wedding sewing, I was a bit burnt out and try as I might, I could not muster any enthusiasm for the quilt project at all until I chanced upon this pattern - Camille Roskelly's Swoon (available here ):

It was love at first sight. I HAD to make it and the deciding factor for me was that since the blocks were so big, surely it would be a really fast quilt to make? Right?

Well no, not really. I can't even say why it took so long to piece - probably because it's not a strip pieced quilt - it is designed to use fat quarters (which is very economical and a great way to use them up but very fiddly to cut out the pieces) but it took much longer than I had anticipated. But when it was finished, it was gorgeous, even though I still was not a fan of the fabrics I used. A sensible person would then post it off to the long arm quilters and heave a sigh of relief, but I have never been sensible that way. For my beloved sister and this fabulous quilt, nothing would do but a baptist fan pattern, which led to this quilt being the most labour intensive quilt I have ever completed.

At any rate, it was finished and hand delivered and most importantly, she loved it. Here it is in all it's glory. My favorite block is the one in the middle. It's hard to tell from the pic, but it is a grey print paired with a nautical looking stripe in raspberry, pale blue and grey.

I had intended to make a sister quilt for myself with some bright florals I have stashed away, but I just don't think I have it in me! Meanwhile, another of Camille's designs is calling to me - Round & Round (available here)

Hopefully I will get this one completed a little faster. And get to keep it!